Hunger

Survey of Food Insecurity on Thirty-Four Campuses
Respondents who showed signs of food insecurity in these initial
questions were then asked a series of follow-up questions. Forty-four
percent said that they had been forced to cut back on the size of their
meals or skip meals entirely in the last 30 days due to lack of money,
and 35 percent said that they were hungry but didn’t eat because there
wasn’t enough money for food (see Table 3).
In addition, a significant percentage reported more severe levels of
food insecurity. Twenty percent of these survey-takers reported having
skipped eating for an entire day due to lack of money in the last 30 days,
and 15 percent said that they had lost weight in the last 30 days because
they couldn’t afford to eat.
Table 3: Responses to Food Security
Follow-Up Questions, Last 30 Days
Did you ever cut the size of your meals or skip meals
because there wasn’t enough money for food?
Did you ever eat less than you felt you should because
there wasn’t enough money for food?
Were you ever hungry but didn’t eat because there
wasn’t enough money for food?
Did you lose weight because there wasn’t enough
money for food?
Did you ever not eat for a whole day because there
wasn’t enough money for food?
Yes
44%
43%
35%
15%
20%
Note: The sample for these questions was made up of respondents who answered “sometimes
true” or “often true” to one of the initial food security questions listed in Table 2.
When the study looked at responses by demographic groups, the results
showed that food insecurity was more prevalent among the students of
color who participated in the survey. Students who identified as “Hispanic
or Latino” or “Black or African American” were more likely to be food
insecure and much more likely to experience very low food security.
The study also found that 56 percent of first-generation students were food
insecure, compared to 45 percent of students whose parents did attend college.
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